Private businesses and government agencies may need to access encryption keys used by industry employees without it being apparent whose encyrption key is being accessed. The private businesses may need to access individual keys in order to replace lost tokens and to provide access to management. Government agencies generally need to access keys for court-authorized law enforcement purposes. Clearly, private businesses typically will need to access encryption keys more often than government agencies. Thus, it is more efficient for a private business to maintain encryption keys for its employees and to allow for occasional access by governmental agencies when such access is authorized by the courts.
However, when a governmental agency accesses encryption keys of an individual, it typically does not want the private business to know which employee is under surveillance. Thus, there is a need for a method for providing, by a particular private business, to an authorized governmental agency, an encryption key of an employee under surveillance without identifying which employee is being examined.
More generally, there is a need for providing, to a second group, blind access to an encryption key of a predetermined first group member.